


The 'Ding' Pool

by potionsmaster



Series: Normandy Orthopedics [8]
Category: Mass Effect, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Betting, Doctor AU, M/M, Office Romance, Paperwork, Swearing, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff, silliness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-18 22:02:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13690707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potionsmaster/pseuds/potionsmaster
Summary: It’s Valentine’s Day at Normandy Orthopedics and there’s a ridiculous tradition in the office building





	The 'Ding' Pool

**Author's Note:**

> Yep, this is a real thing at my office, lol. It’s hysterical. Also? This is their first Valentine’s Day together. Shepard has actually moved departments and their relationship is kinda in the open now

**_The ‘Ding’ Pool_** , by potionsmaster

 

Rating: T for language

 

~*~*~*~

 

_*ding* Kasumi to the Info Desk, pleeeeeease!  Happy Valentine’s Dayyyyyyy!_

 

The overhead page chimed over everyone’s desk phone in the bullpen of Normandy Orthopedics, echoing in the hallways and cubicles. Shepard sighed and jabbed at the button to silence Kelly’s too-bright and chirpy voice, but he was too late; she already completed her announcement through the building and there was a few muttered comments from some of the other cubicles around him about that being the 15th one of the day.  

 

“Shepard...did you go in for the ‘ding’ pool?” Emily asked.  He pulled his headset off and hung it up on its hook, leaning back in his chair and stretching.  

 

“No...I didn’t know that was a ‘thing’.  We didn’t get to do it last year when I was in Phones.”  He took a sip from his coffee, hand covering the heart with a ‘K’ in it scribbled in permanent marker on the cardboard travel cup.  Emily glanced at his hand and smirked at him.

 

“It’s _awful_ cute, y’know…” she murmured slyly, leaning against the cubicle wall with her own mug in hand. “Nobody _else_ gets coffee hand-delivered to them by Dr. Alenko…”  

 

“Uh-huh,” he deadpanned, ears turning pink.  Emily was a closet gossip hound and very skillful at digging for intel.  She and Diana Allers in PreCert were the most reliable sources of any news in the practice, though.  “Next time you should ask him for some your _self_ , Miss Wong.”  It wasn’t exactly a secret anymore that he was dating one of the doctors, but he and Kaidan still didn’t really like to let their personal life bleed over into their professional one.  Kaidan _did_ , however, make sure to stop by Benefits more than any other doctor in the practice.

 

“It _was_ rather nice of him to buy the department lunch last week,” their supervisor wheezed as he waddled over and shoved a handful of papers at him.  Barla Von was a short, squat little man who ran their department with a fairly lax approach in comparison the the iron fist Samara ruled with in the Scheduling department.  Shepard appreciated it.  “However, that doesn’t get you out of doing me a favor.  Diana’s tied up with a medication auth and I have a meeting with Adrien in a few minutes…” he sighed, sliding his thick glasses up his stubby nose.  

 

Shepard took the papers and leafed through them, brow furrowed.  Precert for an MRI, denied.  He was primarily on the verification end of insurance for the practice, but Barla demanded his staff be versed in both their job and their sister department’s job.  Small price to pay, Shepard thought when he was hired in, in order to get away from prying eyes and gossiping tongues.  

 

“Oh?  What’s it about, more issues with Dantius Financial?  I really wish they’d stop billing the Medicaid patients,” Emily grumbled.  “I never met a medical billing company before who didn’t know how to, y’know, _legally bill_ for services.”

 

“That’s one of the points we’re going over, yes,” Barla sighed.  “We have some other things to discuss before we go back to Nassana, though.  John, please do this before you leave for today.  Dr. Massani is pushing hard for it and the clock’s ticking for the approval window.”

 

“Ok, can do…” Shepard said, still paging through.  Office notes and xray reports were submitted, stamped and signed like they should have been.  Kelly Chambers’ voice called out through everyone’s phones again.

 

_*ding* Tali in IT to the Info Desk! Taliiiii to the Info Desk, pleeeeeeeeeeeeease!  Happy Valentine’s Day!_

 

Barla pulled a paper out of his pocket and made a mark on it.  “16.  Dang.  I’m out.  Ah well.  Text me if you have any questions, please, John.”

 

They watched him leave.  “I hope I win...I bet 26.”  Emily rubbed her nose and stood up.  “Best dollar I ever spent if I do; pot’s at 40 bucks last I knew.  You should’ve gotten in on it, Shepard.  You’re missing all the action.”

 

“Uh- _huh_ ,” he chuckled and put his headset back on.  “Remind me before the day next year, and maybe I will.”  He dialed Dr. Massani’s nurse.  “Hey, Kasumi.”

 

“ _Hey Shep.  Got a minute?”_  

 

“Yeah, actually, I was just about to ask you the same thing.”  He could hear Dr. Massani grumbling in the background.

 

_“Oh, ok.  You first.  Mine’s probably not important.”_

 

“Uh, this precert for patient, um...chart #561471?  They denied it again.  We need to appeal.”

 

 _“Those mother_ fuckers _...they’re talkin’ out their arses; I dunno what the fuck else they want me to submit._ ”

 

Shepard stifled a laugh; Dr. Massani was a lude, crude, tattooed, and scarred man with mismatched eyes and an attitude to rival it, but he was the pediatric ortho doc everyone in their area wanted to get in to see.  The kids loved him.

 

 _“Language, boss, Sadie’s mother lodged a complaint with Kahlee the last time she heard you swear,”_ Kasumi broke in.   _“What else are they looking for, Shep?  We don’t have anything else in the chart to submit for review.  They have every note from every visit, every image report, every -”_

 

Loud rustling filtered through his earpiece and made him wince as Dr. Massani pulled the phone towards him again.

 

_“Listen, kid, who is this?  John?”_

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

 _“Alright, John, here’s what you’re gonna do.  Take a blank piece of paper, yeah?  Do me a favor, hold out yer hand, make a fist.  With me so far?  Good.  Now.  Here’s the important part.  Turn yer hand over, palm up but still in a fist, extend your middle finger, and put the whole thing on that blank paper.  Trace_ that _and fuckin’ send_ that _in with the goddamn appeal paperwork.  If that doesn’t convince ‘em, nuffing will.”_

 

Dr. Massani’s British accent got thicker the more animated he got and Shepard had a hard time not laughing.  He was 95% sure the doctor was joking, but it was hard to tell with him sometimes.  

 

 _“Don’t listen to him,”_ Kasumi cut in again, exasperated.   _“I think we’ll end up in a peer-to-peer no matter what.  Do what you have to in order to get it done.”_

 

“Ok, will do.  Just wanted to keep you updated on it.  So what did you get?”

 

_“Oh, Keiji did the thoughtful thing and got me a single, red rose and silly romance novel.  But the best part was the bookmark.  Tickets to the art museum.  I can only imagine what he’s got planned when we go…”_

 

“Sounds nice.”

 

 _“Yeah, it is.  I’m surprised we haven’t heard_ your _name called yet…still a few hours left.  I’m still in the running, but I don’t think I’ll win.  I think I guessed too high.”_

 

“He bought me a coffee this morning; he doesn’t need to do anything else,” he chuckled.  “Asked him not to.”

 

 _“Well, that’s a shame.  Al_ right _, boss, I’m coming.  Sorry to run, Shep, but we have a temper tantrum going in our room. And the five year old patient is starting to get fussy, too.”_

 

The intercom shut off and he stared at the papers, incredulous.  Not every day a doctor told him to flip the bird at an insurance company rep.

 

~*~*~*~

 

Shepard sighed as he logged off his computer, day finally coming to a close. He was the last one to leave and he liked it that way.  There was no reason to rush; Kaidan was finishing up office and then he was driving them to dinner out from the practice.  It was still a little embarrassing; Kaidan insisted continually on paying for everything even though they’d been living together for a few months now and Shepard still didn’t know how he felt about what he considered ‘mooching’ off his boyfriend.  His ears tipped pink again as he thought the word again: _boyfriend_.  

 

If someone had told him that starting a new job a little over a year ago was going to turn his life around and give him the love of his life (who just _happened_ to be one of the bosses at said job.  Oops), he would have rolled his eyes and ignored them.  And yet here he was, that exact situation a reality.  

 

“Hey there…come here often?”

 

A familiar husky voice announced the presence of its owner leaning against his cubicle wall, warm brown eyes crinkled in the corner with a soft smile.  Shepard glanced down the rest of the grid, making sure they were alone before leaning in and kissing him hello.

 

“Hey, babe…have a good day?”

 

“Mm.  Better now,” Kaidan sighed happily, sliding a hand on Shepard’s hip.  “And hopefully better still once we get out of here.  Ready?”

 

“Yeah, I just...was making sure I got everything.  It kinda hit the fan this afternoon.”  He shut off his desk light and grabbed his coat, lacing their fingers together as they made their way to the west staircase.

 

“Oh?  Me and Ash were on urgent care today.  It wasn’t too terrible, but I’ll be willing to bet tomorrow will have some, ah.   _Interesting_ stories the patients will tell.  There always are after holidays.”  He squeezed Shepard’s hand and let go when they entered the hallway; no telling exactly who was still around after office hours.

 

“Yeah...had a denial that I had to deal with and Doc Massani told me basically to flip the insurance company off.  That was...fun.”

 

“Heh.  Sounds like him.”

 

“Mmhm.  And then of course Kasumi managed to rib me about you again.  Said she was listening for my name in the pages today.”

 

“You asked me not to, so I did not,” Kaidan chided amicably, nudging him with his shoulder.  “Still got you something, though.  It’s just not for, ah.  Public consumption.”

 

Shepard felt his eyebrows arch in surprise. “Oh _really._ I guess it’s a good thing you didn’t have it delivered here, then.”  

 

“Yep.  I admit, I wasn’t paying attention to how many there were.  Can’t hear pages on the intercom when I’m in an exam room.  Did you bet?”

 

“No.  What _is_ it with people and going in on this thing?”  

 

Kaidan chuckled and held the side entrance door for him, gesturing him through.  “You never had a ‘ding’ pool at other jobs you had?”

 

“Can’t say that I have.  And what a stupid name.  ‘Ding’ pool.  What even…” He unlocked the Porsche and slid into the passenger’s seat while Kaidan tossed his briefcase in the backseat before settling in.  

 

“It’s because ‘the sound the phone intercom system makes while doing an all-call page betting pool’ is too long, babe.”  He pressed a gentle kiss on Shepard’s cheek before backing out of the parking spot.

 

“Smartass…”

 

“You love my ass.”

 

“Yep.  Blue ribbon, right?”  Shepard laughed as Kaidan’s cheeks flamed.  “So did you bet?”

 

“Mmhm.  Jack won the one on our floor, though.  I was over by one.  Ah well.  Can’t win ‘em all.”

 

Shepard slid his hand on Kaidan’s thigh, feeling the muscle flex as his boyfriend drove.  “Yeah, but you didn’t embarrass the shit out of me today.  And that means I owe you one.  And I’d say that means you won.”

 

Kaidan bit his lower lip, grinning as the color returned on his cheeks.  “Better than any ‘ding’ pool prize, babe.”

 

“...love you, babe,” Shepard said, shy.  It still felt surreal to him when they said it.  Kaidan glanced at him happily, stroking his hand on the younger man’s a moment before returning it to the steering wheel.

 

“Love you, too.  Happy Valentine’s Day.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
